In a resolution approved April 13, the Board of County Commissioners expressed its strong support for passage of a “robust transportation funding package” by the 2017 Oregon Legislature.

The resolution highlighted a number of significant transportation infrastructure needs in Clackamas County, throughout the Portland metropolitan area, and across the state, including the following:

Clackamas County has an annual shortfall of more than $17 million to address maintenance needs for the 1,400 miles of county roadways and 180 bridges;

I-205 between the Abernethy Bridge in Oregon City and Stafford Road has been identified as a key bottleneck requiring essential improvements to relieve congestion;

Other bottlenecks in the metropolitan area – I-5 in the Rose Quarter and Highway 217 – also require essential improvements to allow for continued economic growth and prosperity;

The Oregon Transportation Commission has determined that there is a need for more than $1 billion each year to meet transportation needs throughout the state; and

Clackamas County and many other jurisdictions have suffered dramatic losses in transportation revenue since federal timber harvest began to drop after 1986 and federal
revenue replacement policies (such as Secure and Rural Schools funds) have expired.

Clackamas County has been reaching out to its communities for years, talking about the need for transportation maintenance
funds and asking for support for local transportation funding measures. Currently, Clackamas County is the only one of the
three Oregon metropolitan area counties without a local source of funding such as a countywide gas tax or vehicle registration fee.